Saint Joseph Catholic Church

The Catholic democracy advocate who was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong.

The Southeast Asian nation of 6.1 million (map) is 22% Christian, 15% Muslim, 15% Buddhist, and 5% Hindu, with 36% adhering to Chinese folk religion.

“The Holy See forcefully reiterates its condemnation of every form of involvement of civilians and civilian structures—such as homes, schools, hospitals, and places of worship—in military operations, and asks that the principle of the inviolability of human dignity and the sacredness of life always be protected,” Cardinal Parolin said in an interview with Vatican News.

“If states were to be recognized as having a right to ‘preventive war,’ according to their own criteria and without a supranational legal framework, the whole world would risk being set ablaze,” he added. “This erosion of international law is truly worrying: justice has given way to force; the force of law has been replaced by the law of force, with the conviction that peace can arise only after the enemy has been annihilated.”

“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, these heinous and senseless killings,” the bishops said. “There can be no justification whatsoever for the murder of innocent civilians. Such acts are an offence against God, the Author of Life, and a grave sin against humanity.”

In its reporting on the massacre, BBC attributed the violence to “a group of unidentified men.”

In a statement dated March 4 and released today, Bishop Aldo Berardi, OSST, urged “all Christians to pray unceasingly and not grow weary in prayer. As Christians, we proclaim that Christ is our Peace, the principle of reconciliation, and the source of communion.”

Odisha (Orissa) (map) was the site of a 2008 anti-Christian pogrom in which an estimated 100 Christians were murdered, and 50,000 fled their homes.

The International Theological Commission, the papally-appointed advisory body of theologians under the purview of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, has published “Quo vadis, humanitas? Reflecting on Christian anthropology in light of certain future scenarios for humanity.”

Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV devoted his March 4 audience to the Church as a visible and spiritual reality.